[1] Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a web browser.
[2] Related Art
Late years, image processing apparatuses (also called image forming apparatuses, multi-function devices or MFPs (multi-function peripherals)) having various functions—such as printing, copying, faxing and scanning—are widely in use. Furthermore, some of such apparatuses have a function to access a web server and are capable of printing an accessed web page.
Thus, when an image processing apparatus having varied functions also has a web access function, accesses to various web servers can be realized, not via a PC (Personal Computer), but directly from the image processing apparatus, and then a variety of input and output operations can be carried out.
In the meanwhile, it is sometimes the case that entry of information of an individual user is required prior to an access to a web server.
For example, some web servers have settings that ask the user to enter an ID and/or a password for user authentication when an access is received. Particularly, quite a lot of web servers accessed in the course of one's work require user authentication at the time of access with the aim for security maintenance and management, and the user is asked to enter an ID and/or a password for each access. Additionally, entry of information of an individual user—such as e-mail address, facsimile number, transmission destination of documents and the like, and name of a division in a company—is often required for the user in order to perform an operation after sign-in, or even in order to access a web server requiring no sign-in.
Usually on image processing apparatuses, only number keys and some function keys are provided as hardware keys for entry operations. Most entry operations are made by the user touching virtual entry keys displayed on the touch panel display. However, it is quite difficult for users unfamiliar with such tasks to enter long character strings in this way.
In order to solve this problem, it is assumed that registering information in advance with the use of one-touch keys or similar functions facilitates the entry operations.
On the other hand, due to high installation costs and large space requirements as compared to PCs or the like, such image processing apparatuses are often shared by many users—for example, one image processing apparatus for all workers in an office. Therefore, registering information in advance in the above-mentioned manner is not desirable in terms of security since personal information of individual users may be disclosed to other users, and/or the registered information may be used to access web servers without permission.
Even if there is no need to consider security, entry of information to be transmitted into an image processing apparatus is not easy for the above-mentioned reasons. In addition, even if information to be transmitted has been registered in advance, the quantity of registered information becomes enormous when one image processing apparatus is shared by a number of users, which presumably makes it difficult for each user to find information he/she needs.